October 27, 2016

Child chained to parking lot pole

A woman was taken into police custody after photographs of a schoolgirl chained to a parking lot pole went viral on the social media yesterday. The woman is believed to be the child’s mother.

The mother was said to have chained the girl’s right leg to a pole at the parking lot of her apartment at Sunway Perdana because the child refused to attend her Mandarin class.

According to a Facebook posting, the father of the child didn’t intervene although he was around when the girl was chained to the pole. Onlookers were said to have kept their distance and took photographs instead of going to the girl’s aid.

“What the hell was the photographer thinking?” a woman commented on the posting. “To achieve more likes and comments?

“Instead of taking a photo of the poor girl and insulting her, he/she could have released her and brought her to a nearby police post to lodge a complaint. Or better still just call the police to the location.”

The mother was said to have the temerity to reply to the Facebook posting and declared that the girl would be unchained at 10pm after she had leant her lesson.

Swift actions by the police saw the girl released and the mother brought to a police station near Sunway Perdana for questioning. A photograph of the mother and her being escorted by a policeman was also uploaded to the same Facebook account.

There was a debate on whether it was right to share such a post on the social media network. One commenter said such a posting was another punishment in the form of humiliation for the girl. There were many who agreed with him that the photos shouldn’t have been shared.

While majority of the commenters condemned the mother for her action, there were surprisingly a small number of people who said they too were punished by their parents when they were young.

If my time there is social media like this, I think my parents will end up their life in jail. But I’m happy for what they have done to me. There’s lesson for every punishment. I have learnt a lot from it… much appreciate it… thank you mom and dad…,” said one commenter.

The sight of a person in chains disgusts many of us. What more when it is a child that is shackled. It is an inhumane act which we shouldn’t turn a blind eye to. Netizens have done right in highlighting the incident and alerting the police.